Three Northbrook schools honored with national Blue Ribbons

September 30, 2013|By Alexandra Chachkevitch, Tribune Reporter

Fifth graders in Darlene Andre's class at Greenbriar Elementary School take a break from their lesson to smile for a photo on the day of the Blue Ribbon announcement on Sept. 24. (Handout, Northbrook School District 28)

When Cari Raymond and her husband searched for a place in the suburbs to move to from the city of Chicago about 11 years ago, the two quickly chose Northbrook because of the quality of the region's schools.

"It was an easy decision," she said, adding that her husband grew up in the area. "We wanted to be in District 28."

Raymond said she's glad with their choice. Greenbriar Elementary School, a K-5 school attended by her 6-year-old son, Jake, and 8-year-old daughter, Hayley, was one of three schools in Northbrook to receive a prestigious national Blue Ribbon award. The others are Wescott School, which offers K-5 in the Northbrook/Glenview School District 30, and St. Norbert School, a private school.

The three were among the nation's 286 Blue Ribbon schools recognized recently by the U.S. Department of Education. In Illinois, 21 schools received the award.

Since 1982, the department has been giving the award every year to those private and public elementary, middle and high schools that show exceptional test scores and those with increased achievement levels, according to the department's website.

Jennifer Able, Greenbriar's principal, said the award, which schools can get multiple times, is the first one for Greenbriar. The district's Northbrook Junior High School was honored before in the 1991-1992 school year, according to the department's website.

"School District 28 is an amazing educational organization, and I am so proud our school is able to represent our District," Able said in an email, adding that Greenbriar's high test scores particular in the last two years were noteworthy.

Raymond, a president of Greenbriar's parent teacher organization, said she is glad other people will now know about District 28 and Greenbriar.

The Blue Ribbon was bestowed for the first time on Wescott School, at 1820 Western Ave., and the Northbrook/Glenview School District 30, which includes two more schools.

Wescott's Principal Terri Carman, who is set to retire at the end of 2013-14 year after about 35 years of working in education, said she is also happy to represent District 30 with the national award.

"It's a nice parting gift," Carman said, adding that Westcott was placed in the top 16 Illinois schools with highest ISAT math and reading scores.

She said she thinks Wescott's excellence comes from the partnership between parents and teachers.

"We really pride ourselves on developing the whole child," Carman said, adding that each year the school has a theme that encourages the students to develop their characters and be good people. This year's theme focuses on acts of kindness, she said.

Colleen Bessette, a reading specialist at Wescott, said the honor is special to everyone on staff.

"The people here really care about each other," Bessette said. "We worry about how to better our students as citizens of the world not just about test scores."

It was also the first time St. Norbert School, located in downtown Northbrook, received the Blue Ribbon.

The private Catholic institution, which has been in Northbrook since 1940s, offers preschool through eighth grades in the community and was one of about 50 other private schools to get the 2013 award.

Rosanne Sikich, who just started heading the school in July, said she is honored to be the principal of St. Norbert, which serves about 210 students.

"It's a really exciting thing to walk into," Sikich said.

Sikich gave credit to the former principal Kimberly Rich, who has filed out the application for the school a few times in the past years.

Rich "took so much on herself. We're lucky we can reap the benefits," Sikich said.